Chapter 33: A Great Missionary Program

Chapter 33.
A Great Missionary Sermon The Strict Baptists at the Surrey Gardens—Further Notices by Dr. Campbell—A Disaster at Halifax—Annual Sermon for the Baptist Missionary Society—Services on Epsom Racecourse—An American Visitor's Description—Services in Cambridgeshire—Visit to Ireland—Illness—Meeting at New Park Street Chapel.

The year 1858 was remarkable for many things. It had a great comet, the like of which modern sky-gazers had never seen; there was a nearly total eclipse of the sun; there was a great Revival in the United States, and some awakening at home, especially in connection with the continued services of Mr. Spurgeon at the Surrey Gardens. The strain of this work now began to tell on the young preacher, however; and before the close of the year we shall find him overtaken by his first serious illness. At the opening of the year the bank had a sum of £5,000 in hand on account of the new Tabernacle, £2,000 being promised in addition. In regard to the services, conversions were reported to be very numerous, additions being made to the Church every month. At this time Mr. Spurgeon himself baptised the persons accepted for Church membership, a practice he was compelled to relinquish in after years. On one memorable week-night evening at New Park Street Chapel, after the pastor had immersed eighteen, a young person was also immersed by a Pædobaptist minister, who was present as representing an Independent congregation at Kennington. While thus practising adult baptism by immersion, however, the Independent, from the baptistery, stoutly defended the practice of infant baptism as being in accordance with the teaching of Scripture. The popularity of the preacher was now quite unparalleled so far as the English-speaking race was concerned; the crowds continued to be phenomenal whenever and wherever he was announced to preach; and Spurgeon had become an attractive subject for newspapers both at home and in the United States, where his published sermons commanded an immense sale. Dr. Campbell pronounced this popularity not only to be "a great fact," but "the most remarkable thing of the sort on the face of the earth."

We can well suppose that it was not altogether pleasing to certain of his compeers to see Mr. Spurgeon monopolise the Music Hall as though no other preacher was competent to preach in such a building. Just after the Christmas holidays, therefore, street placards announced that Mr. James Wells would give a discourse in the place on Sunday evening, January 10, 1858. While speaking on St. Paul's address to Felix in the morning of that day, Mr. Spurgeon's voice gave some signs of failing. When Mr. Wells ascended the pulpit there were over 10,000 persons present to hear him. He mentioned thirteen charges which the Holy Spirit brought against the human race, and which had been met by Christ. Some of his followers, who were even more strict in their notions than James Wells himself, were very angry at such an experiment being made. Mr. Charles Waters Banks, as editor-in-chief of the body, quite approved of the Surrey Tabernacle being closed for once, especially as the great assembly at the Surrey Gardens contributed £50 to the funds of the Christian Blind Relief Society. The congregation was as large as Mr. Spurgeon's in the morning, and though held in a dark winter evening, passed off without the slightest hitch.

Early in February Dr. Campbell again favoured the world with a review to date of Mr. Spurgeon's work and writings. The young preacher had marked out a path for himself, his one unselfish aim being to do good. He did not, as some had done, get up a number of sermons with care, preach them all over the land, and then publish them; he preached as well as printed for usefulness. The discourses were divinity for the million; while as an orator the Music Hall preacher had outdone Erskine himself, who spoke three volumes of published speeches in three weeks. "Nothing like this has been heard of since the world began," it is added. "The man who preaches ten times weekly has no leisure for the manufacture of glittering paragraphs and polished periods." Of the discourses already published it was remarked: "There are no other volumes in the English tongue from which the preacher may obtain so much insight into the most efficient methods of addressing mixed multitudes." A reference was also made to the United States:—

"The Americans of the present hour may be received as standing somewhere between the living generation of Englishmen and the generation to be born; and it is not improbable that the judgment they form will be substantially the judgment of posterity. They are far removed from the scene of strife, where there has been, in relation to this subject, such a display of ignorance and folly, and misapprehension, misrepresentation, and falsehood. Mr. Spurgeon has, beyond question, been the best abused and the most exalted man of this generation; but there is reason to believe he has been very little influenced by the one or the other." The catholicity of the sermons is also warmly commended:—

"Thorough Baptist though Mr. Spurgeon is, and ever ready to avow it where circumstances, in his view, require it, he is not one of those who preach the Gospel knee-deep in water. The New Park Street pulpit is perfectly dry. Only in one instance the Baptist appears, and even then but for a moment, and neither his aspect nor his utterance is at all offensive. Many and terrible, however, are the thrusts dealt out to bitter bigotry of every description." The English of the sermons is pronounced perfect; "so fine and so idiomatic that it would scarcely lose by comparison with the writings of John Bunyan himself." Another peculiarity is then pointed out—the sermons were "an extraordinary mixture of prose and verse. They comprise a larger amount of poetic fragments than any other in any language published. We doubt if the memory of any other living man be the depository of so much sacred poetry. Were all the collections extant to be burnt to-morrow, Mr. Spurgeon, we think, would have no difficulty in producing from memory one or more every way sufficient for all the purposes of worship. But it will be perilous for any man, in this respect, to imitate Mr. Spurgeon without the possession of his peculiar powers. However telling these poetic pellets may be, well selected Scriptures in the lips of Mr. Spurgeon would be infinitely better; and Mr.

Spurgeon, even, without diminishing his exaction from the poets, would greatly improve his preaching by drawing more extensively on the prophets and apostles." On April 7, in what was really wintry weather, Mr. Spurgeon visited Halifax, where a disaster occurred which might have surpassed in evil consequences the panic at the Music Hall, had it happened a little earlier in the day. "We are not prepared to say that the accident arose from any defect in the temporary building erected for the occasion in the Peace Hall," says a contemporary account; "but as the occupants of the gallery were dispersing, a number of boards or planks gave way with a loud noise, and a host of people were thrown heavily upon one another. Frightful screams were heard from the women, and a report was circulated that the gallery had given way." A high wind and a heavy fall of snow appear to have been the cause of the accident. A man and a woman were carried away, each with a broken leg, and some inconvenience was caused by thieves. That no lives were lost was always attributed by Mr. Spurgeon to providential interposition. The increasing popularity of the pastor of New Park Street Chapel led to his services being more often sought for special occasions. Whatever may have been thought of him before he was fully "received" by the London ministers, it no longer answered to ignore a man as an adventurer who could achieve what was far beyond the power of any other living preacher. It occurred to the committee of the Baptist Missionary Society to ask Mr. Spurgeon to preach the annual sermon on behalf of their cause, and this he consented to do, the result being that the occasion surpassed anything that had ever been known in the history of the denomination. It was arranged for the service to be held in the Music Hall at the Surrey Gardens on Wednesday morning, April 28, and before the time for commencing the vast building was densely crowded with an expectant audience, who put £150 into the plates at the collection. Dr. Campbell, who would appear to have been present, describes the meeting as "a magnificent affair." He also remarks that "the great preacher was, as usual, completely at home, full of heart, vivacity, and business." What a contrast the scene was to the anniversaries at Surrey Chapel in years before, when one or another leading minister gave a "great" sermon. "Mr. Spurgeon cannot devote weeks, if not months, to the preparation of such a sermon, and then take a fortnight's rest to recruit his strength before the great day. All his days are great, and they come in such rapid succession as to exclude the possibility of finish and elaboration, even if he aspired to it. But with him there is no aiming at greatness; exhibition has no place in his thoughts. In the proper sense he preaches, and preaches not to the ministers but to the people, and he has his reward." The sermon was founded on Psa 46:8-9, "Come, behold the works of the Lord, what desolations He hath made in the earth. He breaketh the bow, and cutteth the spear in sunder; He burneth the chariot in the fire." In opening his subject the preacher described what had already happened in the world, giving some account of the origin and progress of the society for which he pleaded. He then went on to speak of what would ultimately be achieved. As regarded the desolations which had happened from time to time in the world's history, all had in the course of God's good providence worked for good:—

"War and tumult were but the rough physic which God used to purge the world. As it was in the beginning, so should it be until the end; the blood of their sisters would be avenged, not by the sword, but by the Gospel. In India the arm of God would be felt, the name of God would be acknowledged. Let them not, therefore, now tremble, for all things would work together for good. The preacher then called the attention of the audience to the desolations of false worship, passing in review the idolatry of Babylon and Assyria, observing that, to a large extent, their worship had been broken down, and they had become memorials of past ages. He then called their attention to the idols of Rome, remarking that they had long ago been east to the moles and the bats. The attention of the audience was then called to the desolation God had made in false philosophy, noticing in order the various descriptions of infidelity, in the course of which he said he believed that he one day should see the last infidel buried, and at the funeral there would be some other person to start up a new system. This text, he said, had special reference to the desolations of war. If they went through the world, everywhere they would see what war had done and the desolations it had made. The people of India should be subdued, not by the sword, but by the Gospel. The shot of the Gospel should be fired against them. The time he believed was coming when the statue of Nelson on the top of the monument would be upset, and that of Whitefield would be placed up instead; when the statue of Napier would be thrown down and John Wesley erected there. There was a day coming when every statue representing this world's greatness in London would be sold for old iron or old brass. They gave all honour to those men now, but these were the days of their ignorance; when the Gospel superseded them they would be enlightened, and they would then be forgotten. They were to look at the text as a prophecy that it was to be fulfilled. They were to look at the figure of the text. Some day he thought they would be awakened, and one would say to another, 'Come, behold the works of the Lord; what desolation He has made in the earth.' They would see their soldiers march rank and file and lay down their arms. Someone, he was sure, would see it; and happy he who was permitted to do so. The preacher closed with an earnest desire that all those churches who were not connected with the Baptist Missionary Society—and he knew there were many—would speedily become so. He thought there was not enough interest taken in missions. Many, he believed, never thought anything about them till the annual sermon was preached, when they, on that day, put the very smallest piece of coin—a threepenny-piece—in the plate. They liked the mission; but they were like the girl that never told her love; and when there was anything to be done they pinched and screwed the mouth of their purse to the smallest possible point. Mr. Spurgeon then referred to the want of missionaries for foreign lands, remarking on the various things they required. It was the want, he said, of true religion at home that prevented them from looking for any great success abroad. They wanted the brethren to be more earnest in prayer, more earnest in labour. He did agree with those who said the former days were better than these. They wanted an outpouring of the Divine Spirit at home. They were to begin to preach the Gospel at home and then go abroad; and then the Gospel would spread, like a sea of glory, from shore to shore."

What was called "An Ecclesiastical Duty Day" came off on Friday, June 11, when Mr. Spurgeon preached in the saloon of the Grand Stand on Epsom racecourse on behalf of a chapel at Epsom. "The appearance of such a man in such a place is a new thing in the earth—another remarkable sign of the times," remarked Dr. Campbell. "We shall not be surprised next year to find Mr. Spurgeon a chief performer on the Derby Day! He is clearly born for deeds of daring, and nothing seems beyond his devout ambition, or above his singular powers." The day was long remembered as a remarkable one; about 1,500 persons attended at the afternoon and at the evening service, and a sum of £60 was collected for the chapel fund. On Sunday, June 13, Henry M. Field, one of the editors of The New York Evangelist, visited the service at the Surrey Gardens, and of course sent home his impressions. Spurgeon was described as "one of the lions of London—a rather young lion to be sure; but one who, since his appearance in the field, has roared so loudly as to make all the nation hear; and every stranger who wishes to 'do' the sights of Babylon, must, for once at least, see and hear him." The description of the preacher's appearance was by no means true to life; but justice was done to his matchless voice, which rang through the hall "like a clarion," The singing was especially grand on account of the multitude of voices. Before the sermon commenced a little scene occurred which must have awakened the sympathy of the whole assembly:—"Mr. Spurgeon announced that a telegraphic despatch had just been received, calling for a person who was supposed to be present, and who was summoned away by a severe domestic calamity. The man whose name had been called came forward much agitated to the pulpit, to receive the message." The sermon was on the Wicked Man's Life, Funeral, and Epitaph, the text being Ecc 8:10. The American visitor had gone to the service with some misgiving, but he came away perfectly reassured:—

"I had seen Mr. Spurgeon criticised and ridiculed in the English journals as a clerical mountebank, and I did not know but he might appear as a theatrical performer in the pulpit. But the critic who can deride Mr. Spurgeon as a charlatan must be insensible to any demonstrations of oratorical power.... The same evening we heard him again in his own chapel in New Park Street, and after the service we saw him in the vestry and had a very pleasant interview. I had a natural apprehension that he must be breaking down from excessive labour. But he assured me that he was in robust health. He said that his constant speaking was the best exercise for him, and that he should die if he did not preach ten or twelve times a week. I asked him when he found time to study, to which he replied that he could give but little preparation to his sermons, often entering the pulpit with not more than fifteen minutes' previous thought of his subject.

"But he has lately contrived to have some degree of leisure. He has taken a house out by Clapham Common, at several miles' distance from his church, to avoid interruptions. His deacons do all his visiting, and hence, in the intervals of his public duties, he is able to snatch a few hours for study and books. I suspect, too, that he has read largely in former years. He appears to be very familiar with the old divines, especially with Bunyan, whom he calls the greatest of Englishmen.... I think he would have been injured rather than benefited if he had been educated at one of the universities, and spent the years in studying Latin and Greek which he has turned to much better account in studying Bunyan and the people of England." On July 2 we find Mr. Spurgeon again preaching in the pretty Cambridgeshire village of Melbourne, on behalf of the Baptist Chapel, of which a young man, Mr. E. Bailey, educated in the College, and at that time not twenty years old, was the pastor. Tents were erected, and 600 persons sat down to tea, though the weather was unsettled. The services appear to have been held in the open air. About 3,000 assembled in the afternoon, and over double that number in the evening, when the text was, "Come, buy wine and milk, without money and without price." A year before, services had been held in Melbourne, and the collections for the great Tabernacle in London exceeded in amount any collection that had been made, with the single exception of that given at Sheffield. The success of young men like Mr. Bailey encouraged the founder of the Pastors' College to persevere in his enterprise. On Tuesday, July 6, Mr. Spurgeon was at St. James's Hall, where he preached the centenary sermon of the Orphan Working School, Haverstock Hill. At this time a report was circulated that the Music Hall at the Surrey Gardens was about to be opened for amusements on Sunday evenings, in which case, it was intimated, Mr. Spurgeon would refuse to use the hall in the morning. At the same time it would be necessary to find some other spacious place in which those who flocked in such multitudes to hear the Gospel could be accommodated; for the young pastor publicly announced at the Surrey Gardens that he would not attempt to preach at New Park Street more than once on the Sunday, and he even spoke of going to America if no suitable building were found for him at home. This called forth a letter from the manager of the Surrey Gardens Company, intimating that the directors had no intention of opening the great hall on Sundays for any other purpose than that of divine worship.

During this summer an interesting visit to Ireland came off; and from particulars given by observers, Mr. Spurgeon's preaching was hardly more successful with the Irish of certain classes than it had been with the equally critical Highlanders. Dr. James Morgan, who was the pastor of Fisherwick Place Church, Belfast, attended several of the services, and he remarks:—

"August 28.—We have had a visit from Mr. Spurgeon, of London. He preached four times, and I heard him thrice, and must say I was not disappointed, although the mass of the people were so. His sermons were sound and able, and interspersed with good and appropriate anecdotes. There was sometimes more humour or drollery in them than suited the solemnity of the pulpit. Still, one charm of his services lay in these. Had they not been used, I question if his popularity would have been so great, or, indeed, have existed at all. His elocution is very good, and his voice most admirable. When he preached, as he did once, in the Botanic Gardens, he was well heard by 7,000 persons—the number said to have been present. I trust good results may be gathered from his ministry. He was well received, and deserved to be so, for his plain, honest, and good preaching and deportment. I much question, however, if his influence was so good as that of Mr. Guinness, who preceded him by a few months. There was a great contrast between them. Mr. Spurgeon was gay, lively, and humorous; but Mr. Guinness was solemn and earnest and very reserved. Mr. Spurgeon is by far the abler man. Yet were there a poll to-morrow in Belfast for the two, it would be in favour of Mr. Guinness. Deep seriousness and earnestness go far—very far. I have no doubt they were very prominent in our blessed Lord. I have traced happy and gracious results to the ministry of Mr. Guinness." On the last Sunday of September, Mr. Spurgeon was able to acquaint his congregation with the fact that at length a site, near the "Elephant and Castle," had been secured for the new Tabernacle, for which the owners, the Fishmongers' Company, would receive a sum of £5,000, so that it was desirable for all to continue their efforts in collecting for the building fund. While all were thus working for the erection of a house in which the multitude could hear the Gospel in London, it must have been a great joy to the young preacher to know that a chapel suitable to the needs of the villagers was being erected at Teversham, where, only about seven years before, he had preached his first sermon. Another cause of satisfaction at this time was the success of Mr. James Spurgeon, who was attracting very large congregations in the North of England, and who, some thought, would become as popular as his brother. As regarded the chapel at Teversham, a desire was expressed to undertake the enterprise in the year 1855, but the design was not completed until 1858. It was proposed that the little sanctuary should be named Spurgeon Chapel; but when that was mentioned to Mr. Spurgeon he did not at all fall in with the idea. In reply to an invitation to preach at the opening in September—the suggestion of the name being also mentioned in the letter—the following reply was received by the secretary:—

"Clapham, August 7, 1858.

"My Dear Brother—

"There is a little mistake somewhere about opening the chapel at Teversham. I told Mr. Vinter that I would preach there to clear off any debt that might remain, but I never thought of opening it. September is long since over with me as to any promises or engagements. I am prepared, however, to give a service, say in the summer of next year, on that account; as to the name, that was but a freak of my fancy. It is true there are one or two chapels here and there which I have mainly built, and these bear the builder's name, but this was done by French leave and without any desire on my part.

"I feel a veneration for the old house in which I first preached, and I confess I am silly enough to believe that the fact will not be forgotten, but I have no desire to have that commemorated which will not be forgotten. Treat that as one of my jokes, and, above all things, do not do it; especially as some stronger brethren would not like it.—I am, ever yours truly, "C. H. Spurgeon." As already intimated, it was in the fall of this year that Mr. Spurgeon was overtaken with the first serious illness since his coming to London. He preached at the Surrey Gardens on Sunday, October 10, but did not occupy the pulpit there again until November 7. Meanwhile, very alarming reports were current concerning the gravity of the crisis. It was evident that the preacher had been drawing too heavily on his strength, and that the breakdown was the result of overwork. "We confess to the most entire and intense sympathy in this matter," wrote Dr. Campbell. "The accounts we heard were of so grave a nature that we could not rest satisfied without making special inquiry, which, we regret to say, resulted in the confirmation of nearly all that we had heard; but we rejoice to add, it was also found that the worst was apparently past, and that there is now good ground for hope for a perfect, although it may be a slow, recovery. The marvel is not that Mr. Spurgeon, unparalleled in the present century, should at length have been reminded that with all his mental and moral might and physical capability, he is still mortal." A few days later the sufferer was reported to be rapidly gaining strength; and on the first Sunday in November the familiar voice was once more heard ringing through the Surrey Gardens Hall. By this time the site for the new chapel had cost altogether £5,400, and a large board erected on the spot invited subscriptions. On Monday evening, December 13, a tea-meeting to report progress, at which 900 persons sat down, was held at New Park Street Chapel. A sum of nearly £10,000 bad been collected. The congratulations on Mr. Spurgeon's recovery were many, and all rejoiced that, after very tedious negotiations, a freehold site had been secured. It is curious to find thus early the question being asked, "What would become of the great Tabernacle if the pastor should die?" One who was present answered, "That the same God who had sent Mr. Spurgeon would send his successor." Mr. Spurgeon himself said:—

'I do not feel in speaking order to-night, because I feel to have something in my heart so big that I am not able to get it out, and I do not think I can add anything to what has already been said. I cannot, however, resist the temptation of saying a few words on a topic which you may think far remote from the object of the meeting. The times in which we live are most wonderful; and I wish that this church should be in the future what it has been in the past—the advance-guard of the times. I cannot help observing that during the last four or five years a wonderful change has come over the Christian mind. The Church of England has been awakened. How has this been accomplished, and what means have been used? Great services have been held. I cannot help remembering that God honoured us to let us stand in the front of this great movement. From our example the blessed fire has run along the ground and kindled a blaze, which shall not soon be extinguished. "When I first heard that clergymen were to preach in Exeter Hall, my soul leaped within me, and I was ready to exclaim, 'Lord, now lettest thou thy servant depart in peace.' When I heard that Westminster Abbey was opened for the preaching of the Gospel, and then St. Paul's Cathedral, I was overwhelmed with gratitude, and prayed that only the truth as it is in Jesus might be preached in these places; that the ministers might travail in birth for souls; that Christ might be found in them the hope of glory. I never felt such a union to the Church of England as I now do. The fact is, that when a youth in the country, I was accustomed to associate with the name of clergyman that of fox-hunting and such-like; I abhorred them, for I thought they were all like that. Now I see them anxious to win souls to Christ, and I love them. I can't help loving them; and as long as they go on to feel the value of souls I shall continue to pray for them. Now, seeing that the Lord has thus honoured us, we must lead on; our movements are observed and we must not take one step backwards. We must progress with our movements. I don't like to hear anything said in our disparagement; we must still lead the van. What if God should spread the late revival, and let the New Park Street Church still go on as the advanced guard? Now, as to the Tabernacle. I am quite certain that it will be built, and that I shall preach in it; and I have no doubt that the money will be forthcoming—that is no burden to me. Some of you have done a very great deal, but you ought to have done a very great deal more. There are others who, if measured by 'oughts,' ought not to have done so much, while others have spared themselves and kept their unholy mammon. Yet we have not done so badly after all; for after purchasing the site we have a balance in hand of £3,600. I hope that you will all agree that the spot is a most eligible one; though some recommended Kensington, others Holloway, and others Clapham." The year 1858 thus came to a close happily. The future was bright with promise. Eventually one friend in the west gave £5,000 to the building fund, while another lent a large sum free of interest, so that there should be no difficulty in paying the accounts.